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A Life Full of Variety

I found myself bouncing along the fire road the other day in the front seat of Faith's van. In the open space behind us, there were three restless mini horses snatching away at the hay we had thrown in order to induce them to jump into the side door. Far down the road in front of us, Faith's pony R2D2 was raising a puff of dust as he galloped along with Manuel in the saddle.

We were transferring this little herd from the large hillside pasture to a little paddock down below in order to give the pasture a "rest" and let the grass grow. All four of the little horses went hesitantly into their new home but without any serious incidents. As I walked back up the hill to the house afterwards, I thought: "... what a marvelous amount of variety my life contains."

All of us on the farm have observed at one time or another that we never know what a day will bring. On Saturday, Kristianne arrived expecting to spend a little farewell time with a mare that would be moving on to a new home. But when she arrived, we were out in the back of the house helping Cash (of French's Waterscapes) carry out the annual pond and waterfall clean-up. She gamely joined us, and we all had a fun time cleaning out the muck and watching the pond water get clearer, stopping periodically to admire a resident frog.

There is just never a boring moment on the farm. Even my daily routine is full of variety. My rounds include caring for people and grooming horses; tending seedlings and harvesting vegetables; preparing meals and scheduling maintenance; paying bills and ordering supplies. If I get tired of one kind of activity, I can always go on to something else.

Some of my most interesting moments involve working with others to plan new initiatives. One recent project is our intention to become a CSA. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture, and it involves interesting people in the Clayton-Concord-Walnut Creek area in becoming subscribers to weekly portions of fresh produce from our organic garden. The philosophy of the CSA fits in with our goal to serve the community. We would like to provide the opportunity for children and families to eat locally grown, organic fruit and vegetables, as well as to visit the farm and participate in the cultivation of crops. The CSA will begin in May when today's seedlings will begin producing spring crops.

For now, our attention is focused on fund-raising for the purpose of completing our full complement of raised beds (See our campaign at http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1180580967/buttercup-farms-garden-raised-bed-project), locating a source for the boxes and plastic liners that we will need for packaging our produce, and identifying pick-up points that will be convenient for both our subscribers and us.

Sometimes the farm's variety is overwhelming. On those occasions, I step back and enjoy a quieter day, taking a walk or just sitting in the sunshine with friends. But on the whole, I find the intellectual, emotional and sensory stimulation in my life to be quite satisfying.







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